Members and associates of the MMTA were welcomed to the offices of Holman Fenwick Willan on 26th May for a breakfast seminar on Counterparty Insolvency, Warehouse Fraud and a short Brexit Q&A.
After networking over breakfast, Marc Weisberger, a partner at the firm with extensive experience of trading and investment transactions, restructurings and trade finance across the energy, metals and softs markets, welcomed the attendees with a case study on ‘When is a sale not a sale? The Res Cogitans judgment in the Supreme Court’.
This judgment from the 11th May 2016 is relevant to you if:
- You sell on open account terms
- You have retention of title clauses in your sales contracts
- You expect your buyer to consume or transform your material before payment
Graham Denny then presented on Trade Credit Insurance, with a particular focus on the new Insurance Act 2015, which comes into force on 12th August 2016. The main changes brought in by this Act are as follows:
- The concept of “fair presentation of risk” to “replace utmost good faith”. Introduction of new knowledge regime.
- Introduces proportionate remedies for breach of the duty of fair presentation.
- Warranties:
- Abolition of “basis of contract” clauses.
- Suspensory effect of breach of warranty.
- Clauses excluding or limiting liability for a loss of a particular kind / at a particular time or location not to apply to a loss of a different kind / at a different time or location.
- Fraudulent claims: insurer liable for losses up to fraudulent act but can treat the policy as terminated from time of fraudulent act.
Graham went on to talk about the Enterprise Act 2016 which, from May 2017, will add new provision into the Insurance Act 2015.
Craig Neame was the final speaker, with a fascinating—and entertaining – look at Warehouse Fraud. He began by looking at the differences between warehousing for fast moving consumer goods and metals storage.
He then went on to cover some of the issues that can go wrong with warehousing including theft, fire, acts of god and a recent example of fraud— looking at Qingdao in China.
The MMTA would like to thank HFW for hosting this event and for providing such interesting and thought provoking presentations.
